So what does this mean for Don Mattingly? All signs point him returning now with a multi-year contract and basically the same staff, as he wanted. The exception being the previously discussed bench coach position, which will likely change, as management was rumored to have wanted. They’re going to want another coach with managerial experience, so I’m hoping for Manny Acta, but that’s yet to be determined.

I’m actually not overly optimistic it will be Acta, but here’s hoping it’s somebody with a history of logical decision-making and not a Dusty Baker-type.

Beyond The Box Score: The Ricky Nolasco trade has been paying off for the Dodgers, but it has a lot to do with how his approach has shifted for the better.

With the postseason now just a month away, Nolasco has really begun to fine-tune his approach. The 30-year-old has only increased his reliance on his two breaking balls, throwing his slider and curveball 48% of the time in six August starts. The results have been impressive, as Nolasco has surrendered just seven earned runs in 38.1 innings pitched, while holding opponents to a .543 OPS in August.

We’ve seen articles before on how guys like Zack Greinke have also altered their pitch selection, so you have to wonder how much of this is Rick Honeycutt‘s doing.

Schumaker introduced the boys to Yasiel Puig, who immediately dropped to his knees so he could take a picture with his arms around them. The boys moved along, but soon Puig came chasing after them, so he could give them each a pair of batting gloves.

Then, after the boys headed onto the field to watch batting practice, Puig found them and charged over one more time, this time to give them an autographed bat.

Ever earnest and adaptable, Ellis told Greinke he was his guy that day, and asked if there was something Greinke preferred in terms of setup or pitch sequences or, you know, anything to get their relationship off to the proper start.

Greinke stared straight ahead and said nothing for a moment. Then, still gazing at the horizon and not at all at Ellis, Greinke said quietly, “Well, I’m pretty easy. You go over there behind the plate and squat down. I’ll throw you the ball.”

Everybody cites his anxiety as to why he’s weird, but I’m 99% sure he’s just weird.

“Clayton was great, outstanding,” said Honeycutt. “But he was outstanding his last three starts, so that wasn’t a surprise. Shawn Tolleson had a little back tightness, but he threw a ‘pen. So did Josh Wall and Javy Guerra, who isn’t as far behind as I thought he’d be. Belisario was there, he threw twice, looked real good.”

Guerra seems healthy after off-season shoulder surgery, which is a positive for the pen, but there’s not much else that seems serious … except that Belisario is already in camp, which seems as much a miracle as Billingsley’s elbow holding up all year.

Speaking of which…

Billingsley was not at the minicamp, remaining at home in Pennsylvania, but he hasn’t had a setback after responding well to platelet-rich plasma injections. There is no way to know if his elbow will hold up until it is tested in Spring Training.

“He has to be smart and be open if he feels something so he doesn’t push it past the point,” said Honeycutt. “There’s a fine line between being really hurt or having something you can deal with. Chad tends to pitch through whatever is going on, and he’s not always open about what’s going on. He needs to be honest with himself.”

An athlete being honest about being hurt? Yeah, let’s rely on that because it has such a rich history of working.

Honeycutt didn’t see Kenley Jansen throw, but the reliever arrived the day Honeycutt left and has been throwing bullpens with no ill effects from the surgery he had to fix an irregular heartbeat.

Probably one of the most worrying health concerns because of the unknown/random nature of it.

Kenley Jansen entered 2012 as the set-up man with elite stuff, freed up to face the opponents’ best hitters should they be due up before the ninth inning. It was the perfect scenario, considering the closer role is a vastly overrated entity. Though Jansen was slotted correctly, he quickly found himself as the closer following some early struggles in that role by Javy Guerra.

Jansen closed 2012 with his third-straight dominant season, posting a 2.40 FIP and 1.81 SIERA while whiffing a magnificent 13.71/9 IP. He appeared in a career-high 65 games and 65 innings, and though he allowed a few more long-balls (six homers after three in 2011 and none in 2010), he more importantly cut down impressively on his free passes for a third consecutive campaign (5.00/4.36/3.05 per nine innings). Also of note is his continued ability to induce infield popups, which has always been excellent (16% in 2010 & 10.9% in 2011), as he reached a new career best in 2012 (19.4 IFFB%).

To put it another way, as infield popups are essentially as effective as strikeouts, Jansen “whiffed” roughly 60% of the hitters he faced in 2012. That is insane, obviously.

Though all has been well from a between-the-lines perspective, Jansen has seen his short career put in jeopardy multiple times due to a heart ailment that has afflicted him for parts of the 2011 regular season, Spring Training of 2012, and most recently the 2012 regular season. While Jansen has thankfully been able to return from all three bouts, the irregular heartbeat has been recurring, which is troublesome for his health and career prospects.

Jansen and the Dodgers have taken action though, as Kenley recently underwent heart surgery to correct the problem. All seems well thus far, as no complications from the surgery have been revealed, and all reports indicate he’ll be ready to go for 2013. He’ll recuperate for at least three months prior to resuming baseball activities, and with his electric stuff, fantastic ability to get hitters to swing-and-miss, and three straight seasons of improving WAR (1.1/1.3/1.9), the sky is the limit for the former backstop as he continues to refine his new craft.

Acquired for Leon Landry and Logan Bawcom, Brandon League arrived having been stripped of his closer duties in Seattle. His 2012 with the Mariners was a season typical of your average middle reliever, as League was fanning only 5.44 per nine while walking far too many (3.83/9 IP), and had a 3.45 FIP and 4.43 SIERA. I was against the trade when it happened and League did nothing to assuage my mind in his first few outings, as he was charged with six earned runs through his first seven games with Los Angeles.

League rebounded to end 2012 strongly though, allowing one earned run from August 21 on. His strikeout rate ticked up in LA to 8.89/9 IP, the highest it had been since 2009, though he walked even more at 4.61/9
IP. His new-found success was attributed to mechanical flaws that were corrected by Rick Honeycutt and his staff.

Whether that’s true and whether his success carries over into the future or not, the 29-year-old heads into free agency banking that teams will be looking at his recent performance over his career track record that consists of 6.71 K/9 IP, 3.10 BB/9 IP, a 3.81 FIP, and a WAR that’s eclipsed 1.0 twice.

After a time spent pretending to be Tony Montana, Ronald Belisario returned to the States and MLB in 2012. Following a 25-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy, Belisario made his season debut in early May and would go on to appear in a bullpen-high 68 games and 71 innings.

Belisario posted a 3.09 FIP and 2.80 SIERA, and after starting the year out-pitching his peripherals and shiny ERA, had a very good season after his year off. He fanned just shy of a batter per inning while walking 3.68 per nine and inducing a mess of ground balls (64.5 GB%), which resulted in just three homers allowed in ’12.

Belisario, after all of his troubles, is line for a nice raise from the $480,000 he made on a one-year deal in 2012. He qualified for Super Two status and is arbitration eligible, and he will be an integral part of the pen in 2013.

Javy Guerra entered 2012 as the Dodgers closer, though not the most talented reliever on the team, which is perfectly fine and is actually my preferred method of bullpen management. Following a rocky start and a liner to the head, Guerra was removed in favor of Jansen in early May.

After allowing eight earned runs in his first 14 games, which included three blown saves and a pair of losses, Guerra settled down before succumbing to a knee injury that ended his season in early September.

Though Guerra’s season is largely viewed as a failure by many, his 2012 was, in actuality, little different from his 2011 season. His strikeout rate increased (7.33/7.40), his HR/9 IP rate improved (0.39/0.20), and his FIP (3.30/3.34) and WAR remained stable (0.9/0.8).

Guerra’s “struggles” were two-fold. First, the self-inflicted portion: Guerra walked too many guys in 2012, as his BB/9 IP jumped from a high 3.47 to a terrible 4.60 per nine. That must be corrected for Javy to see more success. Second, his BABIP increased to .321 from .261. In other words, after getting lucky in 2011, 2012 saw that luck shift entirely the other way. There is almost certainly a happy medium, and in that place, Guerra is a solid contributor to the pen as a middle reliever.

After an excellent 2011 that ended with a new established role in the pen, Scott Elbert finished 2012 on the DL with an elbow injury that felled him from late August on. I wouldn’t be shocked if the elbow bothered him all year, as his numbers fell across the board.

Elbert struck out less per nine (9.18/7.99), gave up more homers (0.27/0.83), and saw a significant drop in FIP (2.73/3.80) and SIERA (3.23/3.76). The lefty also uncharacteristically struggled against his fellow southpaws in comparison with his 2011 success (.271/.342/.342/.684 after a .191/.267/.227/. 494 slash line the year before).

With Randy Choate a possibility to return if he and the club share a mutual interest, and young Paco Rodriguez emerging as another option, Elbert’s health and success in Spring Training will go a long way in determining his future with the club after years and years of injuries finally appeared to be behind him.

Shawn Tolleson, the club’s top relief prospect heading into 2012, got the call in early June before getting the Blake DeWitt treatment and shuffling between The Show and the minors. Though he moved around, he ended up appearing in 40 games and just under 40 innings.

Known for his swing-and-miss ability and domination of the minors, Tolleson whiffed 9.32/9 IP while posting a 4.08 FIP and 3.78 SIERA. He did struggle with his control at times, walking 4.78 per nine, and he allowed almost a homer per nine.

Five outings — in which he allowed between two and four runs in each — skewed the 24-year-old righty’s numbers a bit, though not as much as his massive struggles against the 68 lefties he faced, who hit a combined .316/.426/.471/.897 against the Texan. On the other side of the coin, Shawn was death to righties, holding them to a .152/.244/.207/.453 line.

Those lefty struggles not withstanding, the future is exceptionally bright for Clayton Kershaw‘s former teammate. Tolleson will have a prominent role in the pen going forward — whether that role begins at the outset of 2013 or not — and a young pen featuring Jansen/Tolleson/Rodriguez/Guerra should have fans excited.

Acquired in the Hanley Ramirez deal, Choate arrived with the reputation of a lefty specialist (.201/.278/.252/.530 career) and continued to dominate his brethren in 2012, limiting them to a .158/.243/.190/.433 slash line.

Though he held lefties down in 2012, Choate was mediocre overall after arriving, posting a 4.89 FIP, 4.16 SIERA, and a negative WAR (-0.1). Most troubling was his propensity for issuing free passes, to the tune of 6.08 per nine in his 36 appearances.

Just 21 and fresh out of college in the spring of 2012, Paco Rodriguez found himself in 11 games down the stretch and whiffed a very impressive 8.1 per nine over those 6.2 innings. He posted a 3.09 FIP and 4.17 SIERA — as well as a .143/.200/.133/.333 slash line against lefties — in his very small sample size of a career, and holds the distinction of being the first 2012 draftee to debut in The Show.

Rodriguez enters 2013 with just north of 25 professional innings under his belt, and could very likely open 2013 on the major-league roster. Paco’s immediate future hinges on Elbert’s health, the signing of some other free agent lefty specialist, and his 2013 Spring Training performance.

While he has stuff to improve upon (like his control), if he can solidify a spot in the pen he would provide the Dodgers with another lefty and a cheap bullpen option with a ton of upside.

Jamey Wright, who made the team out of Spring Training after signing a minor-league deal, surprised most with a solid campaign, surpassing expectations in his 66 appearances and 67.2 innings pitched.

Wright fanned 7.18 per nine while posting a 3.39 FIP and 3.15 SIERA. His splits were quite wacky all the way around, as he allowed southpaws to get on-base more, but righties knocked him around in terms of extra-base hits (.252/.365/.230/.595 versus LH & .283/.337/.329/.666 versus RH).

As alluded to above, Wright did struggle with his control, as he allowed around 4.0 BB/9. He did a great job, however, of keeping the ball in the park — 0.27 HR/9 — which saved him from those walks becoming more damaging. Hitters actually benefited from a bit of luck against him with a .324 BABIP, but Wright’s strong propensity for inducing ground balls (67.3%) and infield popups (12.0% IFFB) allowed him to escape his control problems relatively unscathed.

Having lived off minor-league deals, which he turned into major-league roster spots, for most of the past decade, Wright will head into 2012 — his age-38 season — with a strong likelihood of obtaining a major-league contract. Earning just under $1.5 million last year, Wright will probably receive a small raise, and the Dodgers could do a lot worse.

Odds & Ends

Matt Guerrier spent most of 2012 on the shelf with right elbow inflammation, but managed to return late in the season and appeared in 16 games totaling 14 innings. It did not go well. He pitched to a 6.31 FIP and 4.86 SIERA while walking seven, hitting a batter, and allowing a total of 16 baserunners, six earned runs, and 56 total bases against.

He has a year remaining — at $3.75 million — on the ridiculous three-year deal that Ned Colletti signed him to in late-2010. Whether he has a place in the bullpen though, considering the superior arms around him, is another story entirely.

—–

Josh Lindblom, prior to being dealt to Philadelphia in the Shane Victorino trade, struggled despite some solid peripherals following a breakout 2011. Though he struck out 8.12/9 IP while walking 3.40/9 IP, Lindblom put up a 5.07 FIP, though his SIERA was a fine 3.66.

What really killed him was the long-ball, as following a 2011 in which he didn’t allow a single homer in almost 30 innings, Josh was touched up for nine dingers before being traded.

—–

I honestly forgot Mike MacDougal was a Dodger in 2012, but he began the year on a ludicrous guaranteed one-year major-league deal. He quickly flamed out, lasting seven games and 5.2 innings too long. In that short time, he allowed 15 baserunners, five earned runs, and 32 total bases.

The Dodgers signed former Mets first/third baseman Nick Evans to a minor-league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, as reported first by Chris Jackson. Evans will likely be stationed in AAA, as Jackson notes, but could feasibly find himself at the back of the bench with a monster Spring or if an injury arises.

Brandon League may well have found the treatment for what has ailed him with the help of the Dodgers coaching staff, as there has been a stark change in his mechanics in the month or so since he has arrived.

Acquired in a trade with the Mariners, League’s career with the Dodgers got off to a putrid start, as his ERA stood at 16.88 in his first five appearances with the team.

The Dodgers feel, and League said he agrees, that his problems are mechanical. League was conspicuously absent from the late innings of Friday night’s close win, and manager Don Mattingly said he wants League’s mechanics smoothed out before he throws him back into that kind of fire.

“He has a tendency to pull hard to the side and his arm drags behind him,” said bullpen coach Ken Howell. “We’re trying to get him to stay back on his right leg longer, stride the front leg out farther, and he’ll stay in line with the target. It should be an easy fix.”

League said he “absolutely agrees” that he has a tendency to pull off as he throws.

“It’s been a battle all year,” he said. “I had keys in Seattle, and we’re using different keys here. I tend to get my front leg moving too fast and that causes my problems.”

Since then, in his next 10 appearances, he has performed demonstratively better, holding a 0.79 ERA over that time span.

Despite the improvement, my inclination was to chalk it up to simple regression, but I was reminded on Twitter of the mechanical fix and decided to see if there was anything to it.

Sure enough, there was a stark difference in his mechanics, as I’ll show here in pictures from an August 5th delivery (top) and an August 31st delivery (bottom).

In the before picture, we can see that he’s upright, whereas he’s crouched in the after picture. A product of that is extra bend in his back leg in the August 31st appearance, which helps to keep his weight back.

When he doesn’t get compact (after), he has a tendency to get a bit loose and quick with his mechanics, leading to arm slot and release point issues.

This is just to reinforce the difference in weight distribution and body posture between August 5th and August 31st.

It’s a bit difficult to see the difference I want to point out here, but if we look closely, we can see he’s pulling with his left shoulder a lot harder in the before picture than the after picture.

A different pitch illustrates this difference perfectly.

With these mechanics, we can see how he’s letting his front shoulder dictate everything, which usually leads to the elbow dropping and missing down and/or in to a right-handed batter.

League has always been a rotation dominant pitcher, so it’s especially important that he drives off his back foot to keep everything going towards the plate and force hip separation. If not, he ends up compensating by pulling with his lead shoulder to make up for the lack of drive, thus the slot and release get altered.

A consequence of pulling with the lead shoulder is that his body and head follows that shoulder and dips with it.

Besides what’s illustrated in the pictures, League’s tempo is now two to three tenths slower than it was previously.

=====

Overall, Rick Honeycutt and Ken Howell deserve credit for recognizing the problem and diagnosing the fixes correctly. Similarly, Brandon League deserves credit for being open to coaching and implementing the adjustments quickly.

With that said, this obviously doesn’t guarantee anything going forward. With only a month left in the season, anything could happen. However, in my opinion, there’s been a clear mechanical correction and the numbers match that conclusion. As such, fans should expect the control disaster he was at the start of his Dodgers stint to be gone and that he should now resemble the 2011-2012 League the rest of the way (~3.25 ERA).

Basically, this move was made because they wanted to keep both Josh Lindblom and Jamey Wright. Still though, it’s amazing to me that they’d rather put Coffey on the DL than designate Wright, especially considering Lindblom is basically their seventh inning guy at this juncture.

Jansen’s velocity was also down, throwing between 89-91 MPH, hitting 92 on two pitches. But Mattingly didn’t sound worried.

“Kenley’s different. There have been times early on where he gets tentative or gets off kilter, and the ball doesn’t come out the same way. We’ll continue to pay attention to his mechanics. The ninth is different than the eighth, so we’ll pay attention to that too,” Mattingly said. “As long as Kenley is not hurt, then we’re not concerned.”

Tony Jackson of ESPN Los Angelesgot a quote from Jansen revealing that he’s been under the weather a bit, and he also talked to Rick Honeycutt, who echoed Mattingly’s lack of concern.

Jansen has been battling a mild case of flu in recent days, which could have accounted for the velocity drop.

“I’ve been battling the flu, but that’s not an excuse at all,” Jansen said. “You still have to make good pitches and keep us in the game and try to help the team win. That is what it’s all about.”

Both manager Don Mattingly and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt noticed the slight dropoff, but neither seemed alarmed by it. Honeycutt said it might have been due to the cold weather or illness.

Actually, sickness could explain it, though seeing is believing.

—–

Jayson Stark of ESPNhas a piece on the new ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it warns that those expecting them to spend big may be sorely disappointed, primarily because that’s not Stan Kasten‘s style.

So do people within the industry see this man suddenly turning into a spend-a-holic who starts firing nine- and 10-year deals at whoever wants to take them? Heck, no.

“That’s not Stan Kasten’s M.O,” said one veteran agent. “I’m sure they’ll be a franchise that makes moves. But I’m also sure that when Stan makes decisions, it won’t be like the kind of decisions Mike Illitch makes.”

“When it looks like a sure thing, it ain’t,” said another prominent agent. “Look at the Nationals. Ted Lerner has more money than God, and look how long it took him to start handing out big contracts. And did he hand them out while Stan was there? No. It happened after he left. So I know everyone anticipates him spending wildly now. But I’m not so sure.”

So what can we learn from that history? Nobody in baseball has a better feel for that than Kasten’s longtime general manager in Atlanta, John Schuerholz.

“It’s fair to say this group is out to re-establish the great Dodger brand,” Schuerholz told Rumblings. “But how that translates into making decisions to spend big money on big-name free agents, I don’t think that’s automatic.”

Now would Schuerholz be surprised to see the Kasten/Magic Dodgers chasing the most ballyhooed free agents in the game? No, he “wouldn’t be surprised to see them do that,” he said.

“But I don’t think they’ll do it every day,” Schuerholz said. “I don’t think they’ll do it all the time. What I’m sure they’ll do is what Stan has always tried to do — build a rock-solid organization and build it largely around homegrown talent. And at the same time, I’m sure he won’t shy away from the right free agent. But I underline the word, ‘right.'”

“I don’t think Stan rolls the dice at anything,” Schuerholz said. “I don’t think he’s ever rolled the dice. Stan analyzes. He relies on his experience and his instincts … and he makes an analytical decision about what’s the right thing to do for the franchise.”

Between his Spring Training appearances and his appearance on Opening Day, Kenley Jansen was bitten by the home run ball four times in ten innings. In 80.2 IP prior to Opening Day, Jansen had only given up three homers, and the homer trend was concerning enough to make the Dodgers coaching staff address a supposed mechanical flaw they found.

The Dodgers are hopeful that they’ve spotted a mechanical flaw in reliever Kenley Jansen that has led to the four home runs he has allowed in the last 10 innings.

Bullpen coach Ken Howell said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt determined through video comparison with last year that Jansen has been pushing off with a stiff right leg and not utilizing the lower half of his body, resulting in decreased velocity and movement.

The team seems to feel confident that they’ve fixed a flaw on Jansen, but did they?

It might be a bit hard to see in the GIFs, but either there was no mechanical flaw to actually fix or there’s a deeper issue at play here, because his mechanics look exactly the same.

I watched both of his performances this season live and didn’t notice a thing, but I figured maybe it was a repeatability issue, as in, maybe this was happening to him off and on. So I re-watched his appearances on video, but I didn’t see any variation there either. The mechanics he used on the home run to Cameron Maybin were the exact same as the ones he used to freeze Orlando Hudson.

Neither his velocitynor movement showed a significant difference, so I don’t see the flaw that was supposedly plaguing him.

The coaching staff surely has more information on the situation than me, but from my vantage point, the issue just seems to be a matter of sample size. Perhaps there actually is a deeper issue that’s leading to an increase in home runs allowed, but I don’t think it’s his mechanics.

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports thatClayton Kershaw will throw a bullpen session on Friday after getting his original bullpen session postponed due a sore back on Wednesday. Additionally, Mike MacDougal postponed a bullpen session due to a back injury.

Ah, Spring Training!

—–

Ken Gurnick of MLB.comreports that the Los Angeles Dodgers have claimed Matt Angle off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles and moved Rubby De La Rosa to the 60-day disabled list.

My question? Why him?

He’s a 25-year-old outfielder that hit .177/.293/.266/.559 in the majors last year, and only .271/.347/.344/.692 in the minors. Plus, Ned Colletti signed enough outfielders to have five or six of them on the roster, and all the Dodgers have in the minors is potential reserve outfielders.

Confusing.

—–

Don Mattingly thinks Chad Billingsleycan do much better, which isn’t surprising given his 2011, but the mechanics part off the story is interesting.

“I think there’s more there,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Honey [pitching coach Rick Honeycutt] thinks there’s more there. I think Chad thinks there’s more there. That’s the thing we want to help him with, just to get a little better.”

According to Honeycutt, scouting director Logan White provided video of Billingsley pitching in high school, when he dominated Ohio preps, leading to his first-round selection by the Dodgers. Back then, he kept his foot under his body as he lifted his lead leg. In recent years, he kicks out the foot before shifting his body weight from right leg to left. He worked during the winter on regaining his high school form.

“I’m trying to keep my foot closer and that allows me to be more consistent in my rhythm and timing,” Billingsley said. “We looked at some video and noticed that it was different from a few years ago. It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but a little adjustment can make a difference.

“It’s not really about confidence. My confidence is fine. It’s more like when you’re pitching or hitting and it doesn’t feel effortless. There are times when I feel I have to force my body to get into position and I have to work at it. I fight myself, kind of. We all try to throw the fastball down and away. For me, to do that, I feel like I’m throwing across my body and it leads to cutting the ball.”

Would love to have that video of him in high school so I can compare, but it’s still something worth monitoring.

Enjoyed how he threw in that part about his confidence just so that people can get off that schtick for once.

After yesterday’s debacle, today certainly seemed to be must see television, but after Clayton Kershaw pitched normally to Gerardo Parra in the third inning, it did seem like today’s game would proceed normally.

In the top of sixth inning, however, with Parra at-bat for the second time, Kershaw threw a strike and then grazed Parra on the elbow with an inside fastball, leading home plate umpire Bill Welke to eject him.

“I pretty much went out and kept it simple,” said Billingsley, “instead of trying to be too fine out there. Instead of attacking hitters [previously], I was worried too much about the situation or the count, doing that stuff. Just attack with the four-seam and hammer, and go after them.”

The objective evidence seems to back up the point that an adjustment of some sort was indeed made.

The amount of four seam fastballs he threw should jump at you. He did indeed attack hitters with it, and he threw it almost a mile and a half faster than he had been over the course of this season. Personally, I’m still not sure if he should be throwing so many cutters and sliders, but at least he went away from the heavy diet of two seamers.

Torre

“He was throwing the ball well, and his pitch count [of 86] was good for six innings. He wasn’t trying to guide the ball, just letting it go and trusting it.”

This was a rather obvious difference if you were watching the game. Billingsley was noticeably letting loose, especially later in the game.

Honeycutt

“He was able to examine some things”, said Honeycutt. “He was a little bit better able to make adjustments. His approach was better, he kept it simple. He got back to who he was — fastball and curve, mix pitches, attack the batters. He stayed taller and was more consistent with his release point. It was very encouraging.”

Hooray for making the correct diagnosis!

In all seriousness though, this confirms that Billingsley did indeed make adjustments, both mentally and mechanically. In a perfect world, the adjustments would continue to progress on a linear path and power him directly to a return to greatness, but as we all know, progress often doesn’t work that way.

The important thing though, in my opinion, is that they correctly identified Billingsley’s problems, and now he can move forward to address them.